The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1887-01-13
Few Good Judges of Cigars.

A tall young man of rather dudish
/ appearance was leaning on the cigar
case in an old-esta blished Broadway to-
bacco store. talking to the owner, when
a reporter entered. The young man had
evidently been there for some time. and
had SAID great deal more than his
listener cared to hear. There was
look of WEAKNESS and impatience upon
the proprietor's intelligent ia g, which
gave way to one of relief as he turned
10 wait on several new customers who
came in with the reporter. He attended
to the wants OF each with such apparent
deliberatlon that the young man, seeing
there was little chance of his being able
to resume the conversation, or mono
logue, tor some time. buttoned his short
overcoat and started out.
THAT young fellow will force me
to bounce him yet" said the cigar
man as soon as his ioquacious Gus
toner had departed lie has been
coming in here for the last month about
three times a week for 'l5-center, aud
each time he stops and talks as long as
he can about how his cigar smoke"
and how that one did not suit -, D, ID
how he can tell good o;oo, n,,i1' "io.ht a.iit
and all that sort of thing, until | am
'e''"s 20 fall asleep"
You do not consider him a con-
| nolsseur, then?"
well. | should say not A COM
petent Judge of cigars is hard to find.
The longer | am in the business the
more | am convinced that there is no
article in the world which men think
they know SO much about, but in reality
know so little of. as a cigar. feel per-
fectly safe in saying that not one man
In hundred can tell a good cigar when
he sees 1t, or even when he smokes it.
Oh, OF course, you smokers won't ad-
NIT this TO be true, but 1t is. all the
same. Don't imagine that | have an
exalted opinion OF my knowledge of the
subject. L have been in the business
over twenty years, and yet L would not
venture to assert with any degree of
assurance whether a cigar was a do
mestic or an Havana.
"Ihe imagination works almost as
extensively III the smoking of a cigar as
1t does IN the construction of a novel.
| have proven this to my own satisfac-
ton again and again. Sometimes, Just
for the fun OF the thing. | put few
'two-for-a-quarters in the scent box,
and then watch the look of disgust that
comes over the ia eS of the patrons of
that box as they light these expensive
brands. Sometimes they viii actually
throw the more costly igars away. On
the other hand. I've seen the 'two-for-a-
quarter customer enjoy the aroma of
'5-cent straight which for a joke | had
put IN his tavOrite box.
The popularity of a certain cigar
depends upon the smokers liking for
that flavor. To obtain various tlavors
manufacturers have secret combina-
tlons of tObaccoS, and these are as
numerous as the combinations of the
notes of the music scale. sample one
is Pennsylvania filler and Havana
seed or Sumatra wrapper. An honest
lO-cent cigar Is made up of a Connect
cut, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin binder
with An Havana filler or Sumutra wrap
Der. Havana seed is the seed of Havana
tobacco grown III this country. A mild
form OF imposition is to mix the Havana
filler with domestic tobacco Few
smokers or dealers know the difference.
There is no business in which Il good
name is worth more than in mine. A
place that has The reputation OF hand
ling good stock can sell almost any,
thing. Taste in cigars is most decep-
tive. and dozen men would have as
many different opinions on the same
weed. Hence it is almost impossible to
sell cigars on their merits. Many are
sold simply on the advertising they re-
ceive. N. Y. Tribune.